Partnerships

With a relatively small team currently located in several different cities, CfP is built more as a shared space than an institution. As a virtual community, we have been able to build geographically diffused partnerships that allow us to draw upon a wide range of disciplinary strengths and institutional capacities. The willingness of each of these partnering individuals and organisations has been vital to our vision of collective engagement with the realm of pastoralism.

Duck pastoralists graze their ducks in a water body in, Kerala © Ishaan Raghunandan

The Desi Oon Initiative

Avani

An Uttarakhand based community organization, Avani works with local spinners and weavers to revive these crafts by combining traditional skills with modern raw materials. In partnership with us, Avani has undertaken research to blend various wools and develop value addition through the natural dyeing of fibres and yarn

Dakhni Diaries

Dakhni Diaries is an initiative of Mitan and headed by Gopi Krishna. Dakhni Diaries works with the local wool and wool artisans (spinners, dyers, weavers, and felters) to develop a range of textiles, accessories and products. DD is collaborating with CfP on the Desi Oon Exhibitions.

Hunnarshala

An architectural firm founded after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Hunnarshala aims to combine vernacular techniques with innovative technology to create eco-friendly, resilient buildings for disaster prone regions. Together with Hunnarshala we try to understand how Indian sheep wool can be used as insulation in buildings, exploring the possibilities of developing a bigger market.

Kachchh University

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has undertaken applied geological and ecosystem research at different spatial and temporal scales. This includes work on sustainable management of natural resources. In collaboration with us, the department is exploring the efficacy of biofertilizers developed through decomposition of sheep wool.

Khamir

A craft organization based in Gujarat, Khamir began working in 2016 with the long term agenda of reviving and strengthening local sheep-wool value chains. In collaboration with CfP, Khamir has undertaken work to rebuild the indigenous wool economy of Kachchh, working across the value chain with herders, their native sheep, and artisans. This work culminated in a curated exhibition on ‘Desi Oon’ in January 2019, showcasing this collaborative effort. Khamir has also been a long-standing partner of Living Lightly.

Rangsutra

A company owned by a community of over 2000 artisans across India, Rangsutra acts as a bridge between them and global consumers to develop sustainable livelihoods. Rangsutra has partnered with us to integrate wool linked livelihoods of herders and artisans through training, infrastructure and value addition.

SPRERI

An autonomous not-for-profit organization, SPRERI’s mandate is to develop and market technologies linked to renewable energy. With our support, SPRERI is exploring the feasibility of converting sheep wool into fertilizer.

Milk Initiatives

Aadvik Foods Private Limited

Aadvik Foods has worked intensively with Sahjeevan and with herders in Kachchh to procure camel milk at fair prices and to market a variety of products derived from camel milk. Aadvik hopes to expand its milk procurement from Kachchh to Saurashtra, where it hopes to initiate the procurement of goat milk.

Access Livelihood Services

ALC has a presence in 21 states and works to enhance the livelihoods of economically marginalized communities such as farmers and weavers. Much of this has been done via the building of individual or community enterprises. ALC is working with CfP to enhance entrepreneurial activity in the specific context of milk surpluses produced by goat and camel herding communities.

GCMMF

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation was founded in 1946 as a response to the exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders and agents in small cities. Amul is the marketing arm of GCMMF and is today a leading dairy cooperative brand in India. Amul hopes to market a variety of products derived from camel and goat milk.

Ibtada

Based in Rajasthan, Ibtada has worked since 1997 to elevate the status of women and girl children through education, financial inclusion, livelihood generation and rights awareness. In partnership with us, Ibtada hopes to develop a goat milk value chain in 55 villages of Alwar District.

Käse Cheeses

Käse is an artisan cheese brand that works with ethical dairy farmers and indigenous breeds. CfP is collaborating with Käse towards the production of goat and sheep cheeses in Saurashtra and camel cheese in Kutch.

RRA

Network has spent the last ten years attempting to generate evidence on and undertake advocacy relating to the nature of public investments needed in support of rainfed, as opposed to, irrigated agriculture. RRA Network works closely with CfP to understand the policy dimensions relating to the procurement of camel milk in Rajasthan.

Urmul Trust

A family of organizations working towards social and economic change in the arid zone of western Rajasthan, URMUL works towards building sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable sections of society, including women and children. We have partnered with URMUL to enhance livelihood opportunities for pastoral camel herding communities. URMUL Trust also partners with CfP on its Desi Oon Initiative.

Pastoral Breeds

Centre For People’s Collective

Based in Maharashtra, CPC studies governance models and tries to understand legal policy frameworks to strengthen grassroots democratic institutions. We support CPC’s work with pastoralism, including, breed recognition and securing pastoralist access to forage

Kalimpong Krishak Kalyan Sanghathan

A registered Sangathan that focuses on improving the living standards of marginalized farmers, especially in the tea and cinchona plantation areas of West Bengal. We collaborate with KKKS on a conservation program that they launched in 2014 to save the threatened Siri cattle breed of the Darjeeling region.

NBAGR

The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources works on the identification, evaluation, characterization, conservation and sustainable utilization of livestock and poultry genetic resources. NBAGR conducts training in animal genetic resources management and works with policy development. CfP works with NBAGR to facilitate the mainstream recognition of pastoral populations as distinct breeds.

SURE

Commissioned in 1990 as a volunteer organisation, SURE works in the desert districts of Rajasthan to strengthen the wellbeing of marginalized communities. Through dairy interventions, one of their aims is to bolster livestock based livelihoods. We have collaborated with SURE on the characterization, registration and conservation of indigenous Sanchori cattle.

WASSAN

WASSAN is a national level organization with the agenda of improving policy and practice related to rainfed agriculture, natural resource management and livelihoods, following watershed management principles. WASSAN has partnered with us on a number of projects including the registration of indigenous pastoral breeds of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, the mapping of seasonal migration routes and an ongoing study on sheep penning in the farmlands of Telangana.

Securing herders access to forage

Centre for Social Justice

CSJ is a socio-legal, non-governmental organization that uses the judicial system to fight for the rights of marginalised people. CSJ is partnering with CfP to train a cadre of pastoral youth as paralegals with expertise on the Forest Rights Act.

CONARE

CONARE aims to facilitate socio-economic development of the most marginalized and deprived communities through holistic development and community involvement. CONARE is partnering with CfP in its work on securing herder access to forage in the Nagarkurnool District of Telangana.

Himachal Ghumantu Pashupalak Mahasabha

HGPM is a community organization that works with Himachali pastoralists to secure access to forest rights, wool based livelihoods, and social justice. CfP partners with HGPM in support of its core work on securing titles to grazing lands via the Forest Rights Act. Members of HGPM have also worked with CfP on other projects, including the Aadhar Survey and the HERDING project.

Living Lightly

CEPT University

Dr. Gauri Bharat, associate professor and chair of the Architectural History and Theory Program, joined Sushma Iyengar from CfP in supervising the 'Homes On The Move' project. Guided by Prof. Gauri and Sushma, students studied and documented pastoralists' transient homes and habitats in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

Mitan Handicrafts

Mitan Handicrafts has brought its intimate understanding of pastoralism in Karnataka to facilitate the Living Lightly Exhibition and festival of Deccan Pastoralism. They have unlocked a range of pastoral narratives and perspectives in Karnataka, enabled community access and are co-creating an understanding on pastoralism in the region with the Living Lightly curatorial team.

Srishti Films

An exclusive apprenticeship space for students, Srishti Films is a video production house that engages with non-fiction and documentary forms. The host of all our Living Lightly mini film festivals, Srishti Films is a long-standing CfP partner. Founder Sanjay Barnela is also working with us on a film that will revisit herding families interviewed 25 years ago.

Research

ANTHRA

An organization of women veterinary scientists based in Pune, Anthra works primarily with marginalized animal rearing communities. Anthra has partnered with us on the HERDING project, facilitating field research on transformations in pastoralist womens’ lives with Dhangar women in Maharashtra. Anthra and CfP are also collaborating on a documentation of veterinary health care based on traditional knowledge provided by herder women in Maharashtra.

Pragati Abhiyan

A developmental organisation based out of Maharashtra, Pragati Abhiyan that works on issues linked to rural poverty, focusing primarily on small, rain dependent farmers and tribal families. In collaboration with us, Pragati Abhiyan is facilitating a penning study in the Deccan and is part of a national survey aimed at understanding how pastoralists have fared during the COVID19 pandemic.

University of Leeds

CfP collaborates with University of Leeds on the HERDING project which aims to understand transitions experienced by pastoralist women. Field work for the project has been completed and the data analysis and writing part of the project is currently underway.

Academic networks CfP is part of

Forum for Research on Pastoralism and Grasslands

CfP is part of a consortium of organizations that include ATREE, NCBS and SNU that hopes to facilitate research on pastoralism and grasslands. This will be done via the provision of fellowship support and through the establishment of a network of field stations in pastoral geographies across the country.

RAMBLE

CfP has joined the consortium of partners that host RAMBLE – Research And Monitoring of the Banni Landscape – an open research platform with the mandate of facilitating interdisciplinary research on various aspects of the Banni grassland, its pastoral communities and their interactions with the ecosystem.

The Indian Pastoral Network

Indian Pastoral Network emerged from the 2019 Living Lightly Conference, hosted by a consortium of organizations in Pune. Its broad mandate is to support academic research on pastoralism in India by teaching relevant methodological and theory courses, hosting academic meetings and an annual Living Lightly Conference. The IPN has been successful in raising funding for a four year period, starting 2019. Membership to the IPN is open to all.

Pastoral Dialogues

Indian Commoner

Indian Commoner is a forum to which individuals and organisations interested in the current state of common pool resources, from India and other parts of the world, may contribute. CfP is collaborating with Indian Commoner on the production of Pastoral Dialogues.

Kalpavriksh

Since 1979 Kalpavriksh has worked on environmental and social issues through environmental awareness campaigns, litigation, research, and other areas. CfP is collaborating with Kalpavriksh on the production of a series of conversations on pastoralism highlighting the histories, culture and lives of pastoral communities.

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